Why I decided to become a Registered Dietitian

Hi friends! I’m taking a break from my road trip recaps to finally address your most commonly asked question: why did I decide to become a Registered Dietitian vs. a Nutritionist vs. a Health Coach?

To be frank: there is no simple answer to this question, which is one reason why it took me so long to write this post (thank you for your patience!) I’ve been chipping away at it for a few months now, but decided it was time to hit ‘publish.’

Just a reminder: I aim to be open and fair with the information that I share on this blog. If anyone reads something that is inaccurate, please feel free to send me an email or leave a comment below. As with any major decision regarding an individual’s career, mine was a personal choice influenced by various factors that I’ve highlighted below.

Part 1: Back to the basics

Before we begin, let’s review the basics. What is a Registered Dietitian (RD)?

You can find the detailed answer here, but in summary: RD’s are food and nutrition experts who have met approved criteria (by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics) to earn the RD credential. This criteria involves:

A Registered Dietitian is a Nutritionist, but a nutritionist is not a dietitian. There is no professional regulation of the term ‘nutritionist,’ nor is it legally protected in the United States. Anyone who claims to be a nutrition expert may call themselves a nutritionist, even if they are self-taught.

What is a Health Coach?

According to the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, a Health Coach is a wellness authority and supportive mentor who motivates individuals to cultivate positive health choices. Health Coaches educate and support clients to achieve their health goals through lifestyle and behavior adjustments.

Part 2: My decision-making process

Becoming a nutrition expert

Here’s what I knew: I wanted to become a nutrition expert, I wanted to dedicate the rest of my life to learning about a subject that I love, and I wanted to become a reputable resource. The best way to realize all three of these goals was with education and experience. Because of the time, resources, and risks associated with a complete career change, I knew that graduating from an accredited program would guarantee my success in the long run.

As we all know, free nutrition information is everywhere. It’s coming from friends, neighbors, articles, blog posts, advertisements, and more. But how do we sort out the BS from truth? We seek guidance from experts. Registered Dietitians go through a heck of a lot of training and evidenced-based education to earn their credential. I want to gain unequivocal trust from my clients and patients, and the RD credential will help build that confidence.

Finding my dream job

Equally as important as studying a subject that I love, was graduating with the skills needed to be a competitive job candidate. In the preliminary stages of my decision to become an RD, I read through job descriptions to gauge the types of positions I would be interested in. Almost every job that peaked my interest required that I have the RD credential ← that made my decision really easy!

Versatility

I was also drawn to the versatility of the RD credential. The field of dietetics is really diverse and definitely does not limit students to only working in hospital settings. Some examples of nutrition focus areas include: corporate wellness, sports nutrition, food policy, maternal and child health, private practice, community health, geriatric health, and many more. Without the RD credential, it would be difficult to work in many of these focus areas.

The path of least resistance

I talked previously about the challenges I faced trying to get experience in the field. I faced a double-edged sword: no one was willing to hire me as an intern because I had no experience, but graduate schools were less likely to accept me into their programs with no experience.

The same goes the for the job market – without education or experience, it would have been nearly impossible to get a nutrition-related job because of my limited knowledge of the field. The easiest way to break into the nutrition field was going back for my masters degree. I have always aspired to continue my education – it just took some time to figure out what I wanted to go back to study 😉

Part 3: Why nutrition?

Deciding it was worth the investment

It was financially scary to give up an well-paying job and take on a significant amount of school debt. However, I looked at it as an investment in my happiness for the rest of my life ← can you put on a price on that? I also researched the programs that I applied to inside and out to make sure I would have a good chance of graduating with a job. LinkedIn was my best resource for looking at UW alums to see what they are doing now (I found lots of encouraging results!)

It’s a growing field

There’s no doubt that the nutrition field will continue to grow, especially as the prevalence of diet-related diseases increases. Just a few weeks ago Young Invincibles, an organization that focuses on representing the interests of 18-34 year olds through cutting edge policy research and analysis, released a list of the 25 Most Promising Jobs for Millennials. I bet you can guess what #20 was…Dietitians/Nutritionists! Their study predicts a 21% career growth by 2022: great news for those of us studying to become an RD 😉

I love it

There will never be a day when I find nutrition boring. It’s impossible! Nutrition-related research is constantly changing and there are always new topics to learn and discuss. For better or worse, the majority of people who find out that I’m studying nutrition love to pick my brain about the latest nutrition fads (prior to listing off all the nutrition knowledge that they know 😉 ) Talking about nutrition is a great way to relate to a variety of people, and I could gush on about it for ages!

Closing thoughts

If you’re in the early stages of trying to figure out if you want to study nutrition, I recommend determining your dream job. Look online, set up informational interviews, talk to schools, and figure out the job you want. From there, determine what steps you need to take in order to become a competitive candidate. While I will always support and encourage you to follow your dreams, you need to make sure that you’re setting yourself up for success…and a job, too!

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. Happy Friday everyone!

Let’s chat:

I know that a lot of my readers have studied/are studying nutrition, so please weigh in!

Share:

About Lauren

Lauren Rice, MPH recently graduated from the Coordinated Dietetics Program at the University of Washington. In January 2017, she opened Nutrition Elevated, her anti-diet, #bodypositive nutrition counseling and consulting small business (www.nutrition-elevated.com).

Comments

Good for you Lauren! I think this is absolutely great. I’ll be honest and say that I definitely considered being a Health Coach… but also with the understanding that I would certainly NOT be considered a Dietitian, nor would I want to claim to be one without the proper schooling and education. Kudos for you to going for your dream. Always inspired by people like you 🙂 <3Be sure to check out Ashley @ Fit Mitten Kitchen’s recent post: Coconut Cashew Hemp Bars [No Bake, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free]

Love how you walked us through your decision and packed so much information in this blog post! It totally is a personal decision for each individual – and you are following the best path for your goals 🙂 Can’t wait to hear more once you start your program!Be sure to check out Marisa @ Uproot from Oregon’s recent post: Zucchini Noodle Frittata with Swiss Chard

I love reading about your journey to become an RD! The part about loving what you do and study is so important, and I’m so excited for you as you start your program!
I’ve been considering going to get my certificate in sports nutrition at UW in the 2016-2017 year. They’re dropping in-state tuition then, and I want to eventually grow my coaching business (which hasn’t even launched yet – so soon though) to include some sports nutrition/race day fueling advice as well. I’m really interested to hear what you think about UW as you start there!Be sure to check out Laura @ This Runner’s Recipes’s recent post: Whole Grain Pumpkin Spice Butternut Squash Muffins

Love learning more about you 🙂 so proud of you for taking this big step, and can’t wait to read more about your adventures!Be sure to check out Jess @hellotofit’s recent post: Vietnamese puff pastry pies

Thanks for sharing this! I’ve questioned myself several times why I want to go through years more of school, headaches, and debt when I could just take an easy route and become certified in nutrition or as a weight loss specialist. This post helps me remember why 🙂

I enjoyed getting a peek into your thought process, Lauren. I’m a 40-something career changer enrolled in a Health Science program at ASU with a focus on Health Coaching. I thought health coaching was what I wanted, but after taking my first Human Nutrition course this summer and a Health Coaching class I realized I wanted more. My Health Coaching professor suggested looking at MPH and RD programs and that’s how I found you. 🙂 I’m really looking forward to reading about your adventures once you get started at UW. Have fun getting settled in to your new place and exploring your new home before school starts.

Hi Amy! Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment – welcome! If you have any questions on MPH/RD programs, please send me an email. I did A LOT of research on programs around the US and I’m happy to share my knowledge.

Congratulations on your decision to make a career change – that can be the scariest part!

I love this post and hearing your personal journey. I think it mirrors what a lot of us go through when considering a career change. Also, thank you for responding to my email. Your words of advice were just what I needed to push through the setback I was facing. I have a renewed perspective and am taking things on in the moment… and trying my best not to compare myself to others 😉 It’s been great being able to follow your journey, as I’m not too far behind where you’re at and it’s nice to have a little taste of what I might run into along the way. I’m loving these RD posts, please continue them as you start at UW! 🙂Be sure to check out Rochelle’s recent post: Free Range, Organic, All-Natural… What Do They All Mean?

Full disclosure: I was one of the many who asked this question! I was so curious to hear your answer, and this was really great. I do think it’s a personal choice and for the most part, I think that most people who enter into the field of being a RD, nutrtionist, etc. are all rooting for the same team, but it’s great to see what led you to pursue this path specifically. Question – was there one site in particular that you used to look at future job opportunities? Or did you just Google search “health jobs” or something like that and see that RD was what was primarily needed?Be sure to check out Meghan’s recent post: Deconstructed Summer Salad with Peaches

This is so helpful! I graduated with Bachelor’s degrees in economics and buiness in 2014 and am thinking about pursueing the dietitian path. I’ve been working in business for 3 years and it’s just not for me! I love cooking and am known to be a bit of a health nut. I also want to help people who are struggling with health issues and teach them just how effective healthy eating can be for preventing and reversing various diseases. The decision to go back to school and take a bunch of prerequisites is downright scary though!

Hi Sara! Glad you found this helpful. Yes, the coordinated programs are competitive. I didn’t apply to any MS graduate programs, only coordinated programs, so I can’t speak to differing levels of competitiveness. However, I do know that the match rate for a dietetic internship is about 50%, so even if you do a masters program that isn’t coordinated, you’re still going to need to apply for a competitive internship. I would recommend going the coordinated route if possible!

Hello and welcome!

I'm LAUREN, and I started Just a Pinch in 2014 when I was applying to graduate school to become a registered dietitian nutritionist. In 2017, I started my own small business, Nutrition Elevated, LLC, to help share the breadth of knowledge I learned as a nutrition graduate student at the University of Washington in Seattle!